When Genius is Not Enough
by riyaaanu
Summary: Sometimes, even the most prodigious minds are lacking..


**When Genius is Not Enough**

* * *

"You're wrong."

"I am most certainly not."

Narrowed brown eyes met blank black ones in an unrelenting battle of wills.

Neither was willing to back down nor admit defeat.

"I can't see how you can say that the murderer was the mother. She wasn't even there in the first place!"

"That's exactly the point. Why is she not in the place where she is supposed to be? That's because if she was there, it would look as if she is simply trying to avoid suspicion."

"But that's more practical than being away from the crime scene! It would certainly prove her guilty once the authorities find evidences against her while she's not there. No murderer in his right mind is going to risk that chan--"

"--Which is why she is doing it in the first place. The woman is a prosecutor. She certainly knows how police investigations are held. And since in her scenario she is innocent, she has no reason to be in the crime scene."

"It *has* to be the younger brother. He had been subtly warning the man for the last few days. Remember the death threat? I bet he's the one who made that. He's trying to frame their mother so that his brother will kill her, and then he'll have his brother arrested for the murder. Hitting two birds with one stone, you know."

"Unlikely. He's actually warning his brother of their mother's plan."

"They grew up with a sibling rivalry, Ryuuzaki. It's impossible for him to develop sudden affection for his older brother."

"Yes, but I am not talking of affections. I'm merely referring to the fact that he would rather tolerate his brother's presence than that of his mother's."

"So that would prove my conclusion correct."

"No."

"...You're contradicting yourself."

"No, because that only proved that your conclusion is baseless and illogical."

"...Are you insulting me, Ryuuzaki?"

"No, that would be a waste of my time. You're insulted by the mere fact that you're in my presence as a Kira suspect, so why insult you more?"

"I... don't know whether to punch you or agree with you for making sense for once."

"I'd rather you do the latter. It definitely hurts less."

"...So why'd you say my conclusion is baseless?"

"And illogical?"

"_Ryuuzaki_."

"The fact that he wanted their mother dead actually proved the brother's innocence. Without his older brother, he would have no chance to carry on his plan on killing her. So why would he murder his accomplice?"

"I told you. It's because he wanted them both dead."

"You are not thinking this through, Raito-kun."

"Of course I am."

"You are deceiving yourself, like you deceive yourself that you are not Kira."

"I am NOT Kira! Quit dragging that in our conversation, will you? The Kira case has nothing to do with a TV show!"

After ten minutes of non-stop bickering, Yagami Souichirou had enough. He stood up and approached the arguing prodigies with a rolled folder.

_Twack!_

_Twack!_

Both L and Raito looked up at the chief towering above them with mouths agape. A twitch was still visible in the man's left eye.

"Some of us are trying to enjoy the show. We'd appreciate it if you'd simply watch quietly as well," he said, gesturing at the rest of the team behind him. "Understood, Raito, Ryuuzaki?"

Still too stunned to speak, both prodigies nodded.

"Oh, and please increase the volume as well, Ryuuzaki. I'd like to experience digital surround once in a while... Thank you."

Satisfied, Mr. Yagami went back on his seat and grabbed the bowl of popcorn from Mogi. Mogi stared sadly at the bowl but settled when Aizawa handed him his share of soda float from Watari's food cart.

Now, you might be wondering why everyone was hanging around and watching TV. Well, it was one of those days in which the Kira Investigation team was at a loss. So after forty eight hours with nothing productive evidences surfacing, Aizawa had thrown up his hands in exasperation and settled on watching CSI in the lounge. And since they were all cops, all men and generally too used in seeing blood-filled, unsolvable crime scenes, interests were slowly roused. That ultimately led to the scene in which we see now.

"See? I told you it's the brother!"

"He was merely covering up the fact that he and his brother plotted to kill their mother."

"That's stupid. When did they ever plot such a thing?"

Just then, the doors of the investigation room opened, and Matsuda strolled in, whistling happily. He had several boxes and bags in each hand.

"Ryuuzaki, I got your special double frosted, triple-layered chocolate caramel cake. And other bunches of candies I don't even know what's called. Eh? Where's every--" He paused, finding the team in the lounge. He peered in and beamed. "Oh, you're watching CSI! Cool!"

He placed the bags on the counter and hurried to join the others, who by now had long given up watching the show and were watching the heated argument of the prodigies instead (and betting amongst themselves who would win).

"--he's practically admitting it!"

"'_Practically admitting_' something is not the same as '_actually_' admitting it."

"The mother isn't even on the scene yet, and it's almost ending. The murderer really is the brother."

Matsuda blinked. "It's actually the man's lover."

Everyone whirled to face the youngest cop.

"What?"

"The man's lover," Matsuda repeated. "She's the one who killed him."

"That woman?" Raito frowned. "But... How's that possible when she haven't been seen since--"

Matsuda nodded. "She left him a pill for his recurring headache in the morning in the prologue, remember? The pill was designed to be digested and absorbed by the body so it wasn't detected in the test lab. The pill was actually a poison. Taken regularly, it would result in slow mental uptake and unconsciousness."

Comprehension suddenly lit up in L's eyes. "Once he is unconscious, she stabbed him and planted the evidence against the mother and the brother."

Raito seemed to have understood as well. "Oh... she's that girl. The one who's family got caught in the fire when the man's family company took over their business."

Matsuda nodded again, wiping a tear in the corner of his eye. "Yes. And then she went across the country and committed suicide. It was revenge... What a sad story..."

And so it turned out that the victim's lover was the murderer.

Matsuda received an approving nod from L while Raito smiled at him.

"Good work, Matsuda-san!" he said, chuckling. "You even outwitted me and Ryuuzaki!"

"Ah... well..." said Matsuda sheepishly. He was simply not used to so much praise.

"Alright, enough break, everyone," called Mr. Yagami, standing up with his bowl of popcorn. "Matsuda, good observation skills. Now put it into real work."

"Yes!" the cop replied, blushing happily from being praised by not only his hero, Chief Yagami, but also by the two prodigies. Let me be clear on that. Not one prodigy, but two!

What a happy day...

"Oi, Matsuda!" Aizawa slung an arm over him as they walked back to their desks, grinning. "That was amazing! How did you figure out who's the murderer?"

Matsuda shrugged. "I watched it last night. Today was the re-run."

* * *

**A/N:**

Woot! New one-shot...

I hope this one receives as much love as my other fics does! (-,-;)

Thank you for reading, and please tell me what you think of this story... Thanks a lot!

EDITED.


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